Vigilante
by tielan
Summary: The talk of the watercooler in Atlantis Special Investigations is the new vigilante about town. But when John Sheppard reveals an unexpected aspect to the city's latest news, can his team trust what he says?


**Vigilante**

For reasons related to the current state of the city and meetings with the DA, the Monday morning meeting in the Pegasus Special Investigations Division had been put off to Tuesday, which meant less of the usual suspects and more of the _un_usual suspects.

The usual suspects were Captain John Sheppard, Lieutenant Evan Lorne, Detective Brett Sanchez, Detective Laura Cadman, Detective Teyla Emmagan, and Zelenka.

Arriving early at the meeting room, Rodney wasn't surprised to see Teyla already in place, her glasses lying neatly beside her laptop along with a small, black recording device in what looked like an evidence bag, a steaming cup of tea just in reach but not so close as to be tipped over as she typed up her research notes and flashed a quick, brilliant smile in Rodney's direction.

The _un_usual suspect was Detective Ronon Dex, who'd last been seen working undercover on the streets.

"What are you doing here?" Rodney demanded, stopping so abruptly that his coffee washed over the rim of his mug, burning his hand and spilling across his uniform. Hastily, he tumbled his laptop and his notes down in the empty space beside the broadly-grinning street cop and rested his coffee cup down on the table to attend to his scalded fingers.

Across the table, Teyla pulled a set of damp wipes, apparently out of nowhere. Rodney gratefully swiped himself down as Ronon grinned at his discomfort and swung from side to side in his chair. "Good to see you, too, McKay."

Rodney rolled his eyes. He rarely bothered with the niceties, preferring direct address. "I thought you were working with the Belkan co-ordinate?"

The smile faded, an unnerving sight. "I was."

No more information was forthcoming. Ronon went back to staring out the window, his expression hard and unrelenting as Rodney eyed Teyla, wondering if she'd fill him in with the details.

Her eyes met his for a moment and she shook her head and continued typing.

_Right. Well, then..._ Rodney regarded the two silent occupants of the room for a moment, then shrugged and began setting up.

His computer had just booted as Lorne walked into the room and glanced around. "G'morning, Teyla, McKay. Hey, Dex - Markham said to let you know your weapons are waiting at the cage when you head back out."

"I'll be in the office the next few days," Ronon said. "Paperwork."

Lorne's expression turned rueful as he seated himself beside Teyla. "Tell me about it. I'm still trying to persuade Teyla to do mine..."

A smile appeared on her lips, although she didn't look up from her note-taking. "If it comforts you, Lieutenant, then I was tempted for a little while."

"Only a little tempted?"

"I believe the offering of a meal at _Paladins_ in exchange for my services could be considered bribery in some quarters, Lieutenant."

"A meal at _Paladins_?" Rodney blinked and eyed the Lieutenant. _Paladins _was a good-quality Italian restaurant on the south side of the city - and the prices matched the food.

"That's not bribery," said Ronon with a smirk.

"See?" Lorne told Teyla. "Dex understands."

"That's a _date_."

Glancing up from his password entry, Rodney saw Lorne flush vividly as Teyla's eyes lifted from her screen, first to look at the man grinning from across the table, then to look at the man beside her. Lorne looked sourly at Ronon. "Thanks a bunch, Detective."

Ronon grinned. "What services were you asking for?" Then he jerked backwards. "Ow!"

"What?"

"He suffered a sudden attack of pointy-toed boots," Teyla said sweetly as other people from the department began coming in, chattering among themselves.

Detective Laura Cadman grinned as she walked around the table to take the chair beside Teyla. "Attack of the pointy toes," she said with rather more glee than made Rodney feel comfortable. "Stilettos and pointy-toed boots - incredibly useful for when 'no' really does mean 'no'. Right, Rodney?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he sniffed, adding, "And it's not what you're all thinking!"

"You don't know what we're thinking," said Ronon as the seats around the table continued to fill and the people around them began to chat in their own conversations about everything from the baseball game on Sunday to the recent mystery of a vigilante that had been reported in glimpses around Pegasus city.

"Exactly, and I don't want to!" Rodney began opening up the graphs he was planning to present at that meeting, checking them for the second time that day as Captain John Sheppard entered the room, looking somewhat harried.

The various officers stood, saluting, but Sheppard waved them down. "Hey." In his hands, he juggled with a few pieces of paper, a dispatch beeper, a cellphone, and a glass of water.

Surprisingly, he managed to get all items to the table without dropping any of them, although there was a dangerous moment with the glass of water.

"Sheppard."

"Captain."

"Sir."

"Sorry about the reschedule, but the DA wished to hold an emergency meeting of the heads of all security division of the city."

"The Pegasus vigilante?"

"Among other things," said Sheppard. "The DA has expressed concern about citizens taking the law into their own hands."

"I can't imagine why," muttered Rodney.

It had been rumoured through the office that DA Elizabeth Weir was getting somewhat antsy about the masked vigilante moving through the streets of Pegasus. Pegasus' masked mystery had been seen quite regularly in the last two weeks - never by day, always by night - sleek, shadowy, and deadly to the criminal element of Pegasus.

"A certain degree of civic responsibility is desirable, but too much becomes...concerning," Teyla murmured.

"He hasn't broken any law," said Ronon with a shrug. "What's the problem."

"The problem is that he hasn't broken any law _yet_," Lorne said.

As far as anyone in law enforcement knew - and there was a whole _heap_ of stuff they didn't know about this guy - the vigilante had broken no laws in his pursuit of justice against the many criminals that segued in and out of the city's hidey-holes, shadows, and bournes like wraiths through a haunted house.

Laura nodded. "These things tend to snowball. One day it's tying up the perps to leave for the cops, the next it's killing them because they sneezed on him the wrong way."

Sheppard shuffled papers, and something about the motion caused Rodney to narrow his eyes. "Sheppard?"

He had the attention of the room now, and looked as red as a glass of merlot. "The vigilante is a her."

"Excuse me?" Rodney demanded, both incensed and intrigued by the admission. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

Sheppard sat up, shifting in his chair. To Rodney's eye, it looked more like a squirm than a mere shift in posture. "I encountered our street vigilante last night. She's definitely female."

"And exactly _how_ did you ascertain this?" Rodney inquired maliciously. "Did you feel her up or something?"

Across the table, Teyla made a noise that was suspiciously like a muffled laugh. Sheppard's gaze flicked to her before he frowned at Rodney. "I met her after the Atticus dinner."

"By design or accident, sir?"

The table held its breath, waiting for his answer. "Most likely an accident," Sheppard began.

"I disagree, Captain," said Teyla with an edged firmness in her voice. Her gaze was turned towards Sheppard and he looked back at her with a carefully neutral expression.

"You know about this?" Rodney demanded of her.

She didn't look away from the Captain. "He contacted me to report it in - as is procedure."

"And I ordered you to keep it quiet," said Sheppard with a frown.

"You _asked_," she corrected him. "And I did not make any promises."

Sheppard sat back in his chair. "Look, it was an attempted mugging. It failed."

Teyla tilted her head and lifted one eyebrow.

"All right, go ahead and tell them." He flung himself out of his chair and went to stand by the window, folding his arms and looking out at the street two levels below.

She took a deep breath. "Last night, at approximately eleven-fifty, the Captain was returning to his vehicle from the dinner. He reported that two men approached him for money, but upon being told that he had none, attacked him with intent to disable. They did not attempt to acquire his wallet or steal his vehicle, but focused on the Captain." Teyla hesitated and her eyes flickered over to the window. "According to the Captain, it was at this point that the vigilante...dropped into the fight."

"Dropped into the fight?"

"Like an avenging angel," Sheppard muttered. He turned around. "One minute I'm being restrained by two guys built like Murray Tilk, next minute, the vigilante's there and..." A long breath escaped him. "It was definitely a woman. She took on one of them, I disarmed the other."

Outside the room, in the corridor, voices flowed past, nothing more than faint murmurs through the heavy sound-proofing. Inside the room, the air-conditioning hummed softly as Lorne ventured, "And?"

"And she left." The shrug was carefully non-committal. Rodney was pretty sure there was more that Sheppard wasn't telling them.

Laura sat up. "You didn't talk to her?"

"There wasn't time. She'd knocked out one of the guys and I was putting the other in handcuffs and trying to get Dispatch to the scene. By the time I looked around, she'd left."

"Just vanished?"

Sheppard hesitated for a moment. "Yes."

"Just 'poof'?"

"Yes." Rodney was certain there was more to it, but Sheppard continued. "Teyla did the interview with me, helped me get everything down - it's on record." On cue, Teyla slid out the recording device in the sealed evidence bag. "It's all there, and Teyla ran it through her comp so she should also have the record." He blew out a breath. "Now that we've got that over with, how about we get down to business?"

"We're the Pegasus City Police Department, sir," Cadman said ingenuously. "Crime - and the fighting thereof - _is_ our business. Sorry," she added when Sheppard gave her a long flat glare over the rim of his glass.

"One item that has not been addressed is who set the two men on the Captain in the first place," Teyla said, reaching up to brush her fringe out of the way in an absent-minded gesture.

Sheppard grimaced. "Thank you for that, Teyla."

"It is an important question, I think."

"_If_ you think it was an intentional hit. It was just a couple of guys wanting money."

"Yet you said they attacked with intent to disable."

"Are they in custody?" Lorne asked, and his eyes were hard.

"In custody and will be questioned this morning," Sheppard said. "We'll deal with this later."

"But--"

Sheppard frowned at Rodney. "_Later_."

The meeting went through the usual notes of open cases and closed ones, and because Ronon was there, skimmed over the word on the streets.

"You haven't been made by any of the gangs?"

Ronon shrugged. "I wouldn't be here if I had." He seemed blasé about the dangers of his role of keeping an ear down on the streets, but he was one of the best at tracking and undercover. "I'll be getting the full report in over the next few days."

"Lying low?"

The smile was easy, mischief-tinged. "Can't party when you're supposed to be out of town." But for all that, Rodney would bet that Ronon would work out a way to get a few folks around to the square-footage that he called a pad - nothing more than a few crates and a mattress that barely fit his huge frame.

"I'll want to talk to you after the meeting about the street." Sheppard looked around. "If there's anything else...? Right. Dismissed. McKay, Teyla, stay behind with Dex."

"You guys are in _trouble_!" Laura sang as she sailed out the door.

"So will you be when I come out," Teyla threatened, a not-quite-smile hovering about her mouth.

"Ooh, was that a threat? Sir, I think that was a threat."

"I'm sure you're equal to the task of meeting it, Cadman," Sheppard said dryly.

Laura made a show of sighing and waggling her brows, then flashed a grin at Teyla as she closed the door behind them.

"This is about the vigilante, isn't it?" Rodney asked, getting straight to the point.. "You didn't tell us everything."

A look passed between Sheppard and Teyla, and she shrugged. "You could have been mistaken."

"I wasn't."

Ronon leaned forward, his open shirtsleeves rustling against the table. "You know something else."

Sheppard exhaled. "When I said she left, I mean..." He hesitated. "I was parked on Union Street - the stretch past the Adesi units with the shops running both sides up the street."

"Union? How'd you get attacked there?" Union was one of the fine shopping districts over by the town hall, and well-secured.

"I don't know! The guys folded themeselves out of the shadows - I saw them coming, and was ready to take them both."

"You've been off the beat for a while. Gotten lazy."

Sheppard tapped his captain's insignia. "See this?"

"Yep. Gotten lazy, _sir_." Ronon grinned. "I'll give you a few training rounds in the gym if you like."

"Thanks." The expression on Sheppard's face suggested that he'd rather go a few rounds with the local gangs that roamed through the city. Ronon didn't pull his punches, and his work undercover meant he kept his hand in. The muscle showing was definitely not for show. "Anyway, I was parked way out in the middle of the stretch between Fourth and Fifth Avenue, no alleys, no places to hide, shops either side. The vigilante came out of nowhere - and I mean _nowhere._ One minute it was me against these guys, the next..."

"Wham! Biff! Pow! What?" Rodney lifted his hands and looked around at the others. "Didn't you ever watch the old comic book heroes?"

"Clearly not," Teyla said, folding her laptop closed. "What Captain Sheppard is trying to say is that he believes his saviour_flew_ to his rescue."

There was a few moments of silence.

Rodney looked at Ronon, who looked back and shrugged. They both looked at Teyla whose usually patient expression was showing traces of irritation, and she shrugged.

He found his voice. "As in 'up, up, and away?'"

"Yes."

"Okay," said Ronon.

"Look," Sheppard said, his voice rough. "I don't expect you to believe me - I don't believe it myself. But when I looked around she was gone, and I did a three-sixty of the place. Nothing. Then I looked up." He looked around the table at each of them. "She was in the air, flying."

"Teyla?"

Teyla sighed and brushed her fringe back again. "The Captain called in a street unit to pick up his assailants and arranged to meet me here at the offices. I took a blood sample, labelled it and sent it off to the labs; however, he seemed sane enough."

"Except for seeing flying vigilantes!" Rodney said.

"McKay--"

"I don't know about anyone else in the room but that's not my definition of sane!"

"What did you want us to do?" Ronon swivelled his chair to look at Sheppard. "You kept us back for a reason."

"I want any and all info on the vigilante - street and research. That's where you and Teyla come into it. Rodney, I know you've still got contacts over at the Pegasus University."

"You want me to find out about genetic anomalies." It wasn't a question. Rodney had worked with John Sheppard for years now - they were, in an odd sort of haranguing way, friends. He knew how the man thought, the patterns that he would follow.

"People don't usually fly," said Sheppard quietly. "But she did. I want to know everything there is to know about her and what she's doing in this city - how she found me. _Why_ she helped me."

The last was almost muttered, and the other three shot surreptitious glances at each other.

"I'll start the research," said Teyla after a moment. "It may help us gain some insight into her movements before this time."

Ronon shifted. "Word on the street is sketchy, but I'll keep an ear out when I go back."

"Everyone's so helpful, I could retch." Rodney weathered their gazes for a moment. "All right, all right. I'm intrigued. And I know one or two people who might be able to offer information on this." He thought of Carson, working over at Pegasus Biolab, and figured it was time he caught up with the other man anyway. It had been...what? One year? Two?

"Thanks, guys," said Sheppard. He still seemed distracted, no doubt due to the massive hard-on he had for the female vigilante - Rodney could see the signs - but there was relief there, too.

"Yeah, well, you owe us. Or, at least, you owe _me_," Rodney added as Teyla gave him a hard stare. "Since not all of us can be wealthy enough to own half of the city-- Ow!" He rolled back as he felt the unmistakeable point of a booted toe. "No boots!" He scowled at her, even knowing it was all part of the act. "Sheppard, I think meetings should be declared a no-boot zone!"

"Since I'm never tactless enough to earn a boot beneath the table, Rodney, I disagree," Sheppard said, swivelling from side to side in his chair and giving Teyla an easy smile. "But your suggestion will be considered."

"Considered, my ass."

Ronon snorted, and pushed back. "Not a bad ass. Could do with some work--"

"Offer to go a few training rounds in the gym and I won't offer to install a virus on your computer, I'll just do it!"

With his hands spread wide and his mouth twitching behind the beard, Ronon looked anything but innocent. Sheppard smothered a smile, and Teyla rolled her eyes and collected her things. "I'll start the searches this morning," she said. "Captain, please let me know how the interviews with your assailants turn out."

Sensing that now was the time to pack it in and leave Sheppard to talk to Ronon about the street beat, Rodney grabbed up his own laptop and papers. "Right. I'm out, too. Have fun."

He caught up with Teyla out in the corridor. "Okay, so about this vigilante, do you really think he saw what he saw?"

She looked very much like she was trapped between wanting to say 'yes' and wanting to say 'no'. As they reached the end of the meeting room corridor, she opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it as they came upon a small knot of officers gossiping in the corner. Goodmornings were called out before they passed by and Teyla stepped in and lowered her voice.

"I believe that the Captain _believes_ he saw what he saw._Whether_ he saw it is something else entirely." She shrugged.

"I mean, if it was anyone else, I'd discount it, but Sheppard's not usually that cracked." Rodney exhaled. "I guess I'll contact the Biolabs anyway."

Teyla grinned at him as she paused at the intersection of aisles, one of which led off towards her desk. "Carson misses you, Rodney."

"And when did you see him?"

"Last week," Teyla said. "The lunch for the cell research centre. He said you hadn't called in a while and wondered if you were sick or dead."

"Hah. He should know better than that. I never call people if I can possibly help it."

Her laugh was short and brief as she turned away. "As we know only too well. Good luck in your research."

Rodney watched her go, admiring the rear view of swinging ponytail and stiletto boots - at least until Cadman swung past him and made a_tsk_ing noise. "Scoping in the workplace, Rodney? Could be a sexual harassment suit on your desk tomorrow morning!"

With a roll of his eyes, Rodney stomped over to his desk and plumped himself, his laptop and his stuff down, glaring in the direction of the blonde. Just for that, he wouldn't offer any information about Laura to Carson at all when they met up.

Speaking of which...

Rodney glared at the phone, then sighed to himself and picked it up. No point in procrastinating - it didn't get things done. And Rodney hated having nothing to do. Lazing about was for others.

Still, as he dialled the Pegasus Biolabs, he wondered just how much trouble this superpowered vigilante was going to be for the Pegasus PD.

- **fin** -


End file.
